Shahleena Musk

Shahleena Musk is a proud Larrakia woman from Darwin in the Northern Territory. 

She was the first Aboriginal person to graduate from Charles Darwin University (then 

Northern Territory University) and to be admitted to the Supreme Court of the 

Northern Territory.

Shahleena has worked as a Crown Prosecutor for the Director of Public Prosecutions 

in both the Northern Territory and Western Australia . For over a decade Shahleena 

worked with the Aboriginal Legal Services in Western Australia and in the Northern 

Territory .

Currently Shahleens is working for the Human Right Law Centre in Victoria 

Shahleena has been a strategic advocate, in the area of the over- representation of 

Indigenous children in the criminal justice system.

Shahlena talks about:

 Living through Cyclone Tracey as a young child in the early 70’s.

 Her background and how that impacted on her career choice;

 Her first job with the Crown prosecutor in the Northern Territory;

 Why she went from prosecuting offenders to defending them;

 Her networks and how that has shaped her career;

 Practical advice for anyone wanting to work in legal centres including issues 

around dealing with burnout and finding mentors;

 Why raising the age of criminal responsibility is good for the community and 

offenders;

 The first hand experience of the success of restorative justice programs in the 

NT;

 and so much more.

Joining me to interview Shahleena is her sister Charo Weldon also a lawyer.

My thanks to Shahleena and Charo for a lovely conversation.

You can contact Shahleena at email shahleena.musk@hrlc.org.au or on Twitter at:

@musk_shah